Cinefiles

You know what? You die and go to hell, Big Bang Theory! Yes, that may be more vitriol than should be spit at a stupid CBS sitcom, but it's utterly disgusting how a show that rips off insipid plot lines from Three's Company is a ratings bonanza, while a truly inventive, hilarious and surreal British nerd-com like The IT Crowd languishes in cult obscurity. In the Season 4 set, the members of our hapless IT crew find themselves embroiled in sexual harassment suits, D&D pimping and gangsta Countdown games, and dealing with inappropriate masseuses, wishful-thinking cultists, incompatible significant others and the return of a much-missed Goth-rock fan. Even better, at only six episodes a season, The IT Crowd never wears out its welcome; when the disc is done, you're left clamoring for more. Can you really say the same for Big Bang? I'd hope not. — Louis Fowler

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (NR)

IFC Films

Contrary to other critics, I think Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was the worst film of 2010. Its emotionally grating "hero" is a superficial scumbag who personifies everything that society hates about today's youth culture, and it's simply a moronic story about winning the love of a horrific woman who really doesn't deserve it. But that was mercifully all fiction, right? Enter A Complete History of My Sexual Failures, which might as well be subtitled The Adventures of the Real-Life (and Even More Pathetic) Scott Pilgrim. Director and star Chris Waitt is your typical arrested-development, sad-sack loser in the middle of a crisis who questions why no one will ever love him and, even worse, why he cannot maintain an erection. You grow to hate this guy so much that you hope he never gets that ability back, just to spare the world his offspring. — Louis Fowler

Devil (PG-13)

Universal Pictures

In Devil, written by M. Night Shyamalan, five unconnected strangers trapped in a high-rise elevator are picked off one-by-one by an unseen, possibly supernatural force. The only thing more remarkable than Hollywood studios still wanting to make a movie with Shyamalan is that they actually want to make three movies with him. First, Paramount Pictures tapped him to shepherd the Nickelodeon cartoon series The Last Airbender to the screen; the first installment was unwatchable. Now Universal has hired Shyamalan to produce The Night Chronicles, a trilogy centered on — you'll never guess! — the same old supernatural bullshit. On the plus side for Devil, director John Erick Dowdle doesn't share his boss' laughable inability to either direct actors or develop a scene beyond the master shot. Though trifling, Devil is a bluntly effective film. — Daniel Barnes